Change Can Be Hard. God Is Still Present.
Matthew 8:23-27 tells the story of Jesus calming the storm from inside the boat with the apostles.
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” - Matthew 8:23-27
So much of this story resonates with me. I have a 17-year background working in camp ministry. There is a great camp song we would sing with campers called, “With Jesus In The Boat.” Here is a part of that song for you to hum along:
With Jesus in the boat you can smile in the storm, smile in the storm, smile in the storm.
With Jesus in the boat you can smile in the storm when you’re sailing home.
Sailing. Sailing home. Sailing. Sailing home.
With Jesus in the boat you can smile in the storm when you’re sailing home.
When I worked at a sailing camp on the NC coast, many campers resonated with this Bible passage. The high school campers who would sail from the mouth of the Neuse River across the Pamlico Sound to camp on the outer banks would inevitably encounter a storm in the open water. Talk about experiential learning! The chapel service led by those high school campers was always special and often centered on this story of the apostles in the storm-tossed boat relying on Jesus.
In that same season of life, I graduated from Duke Divinity School in Durham, NC. When entering the school each morning, I walked through heavy wooden doors covered by a stone portico with the seminary logo carved in stone up above. The logo is the image of a small wooden boat with a cross in the middle in the place of a mast. The boat is a metaphor for the church. If you stand in the center of the nave (from the Latin navis meaning ship) of the sanctuary and look up, you will see the resemblance of the belly of a boat.
I find that symbolism to be very helpful, especially through the storms of life. In the Ancient Near East the open waters were a symbol of chaos. A sailboat cannot work against the wind. A sail works with the wind to sail the boat forward. The imagery of a sail fixed to the cross as a mast is a reminder that we can only sail forward by the grace of the Holy Spirit in our sails. A storm takes the stakes to a higher level when trying to sail across the Pamlico Sound or the Sea of Galilee. The apostles had no sense of what would happen to them or their boat. They only knew to rely wholeheartedly on the Lord.
Times of change and transition can sometimes feel like the waters of chaos. The uncertainty of our future and our ‘boat’ can feel like waves of change are lapping over us. During this current season we are in a transition in Grace Youth Ministry. To some it may not feel like a storm at all. To some it might. As an Interim Director of Youth Ministries, I get to stand in the gap between the past and present. As a new staff member at the church, there is a lot I don’t know and a lot I am learning. I walk in uncertainty…and that is okay. I find I have a daily choice to make, and I invite you to make the choice as well. I can either live out of fear of the waves lapping over me, or I can rely wholeheartedly on Jesus. As the camp song goes, “With Jesus in the boat, you can smile in the storm when you’re sailing home.” I enjoy daily meeting new people and learning more about how Grace’s youth ministry works. The youth and families at our church are awesome! Grace Lutheran Church is home to many youth and their families. I want all our youth to know that Grace is always your home. I believe our church council is discerning the will of God for our future. I believe our pastors will walk alongside all of us. I believe the strategic planning process for our church has a bright future ahead for us. I believe that if we fix our sail to the cross, we will have Jesus in the boat with us.
I look forward to sharing this season with you. I am eager to discern alongside of you. And I am excited to learn how God is leading us through the storm of uncertainty to a clear new day.
Dave Bollen, Interim Director of Youth Ministry
